I know we are in a drought in the southwest US–a pretty extreme one at that. However, the drought is just a symptom of the bigger picture, which is climate change. Here is some recent and startling evidence that supports the world has gone crazy.
On our way from Southern California to Las Vegas, Nevada, we came across a very large area of water. From far away, I thought it was just more solar panels in the desert. Then I thought maybe it was a mirage. We have been driving this road for years and have never seen water out there. Ever. I didn’t even know it had a name until my iPhone labeled the location as Ivanpah Lake. What? A lake? If only we could have captured that water.
Well, several days later, it still looked like a lake. Even weirder is that I think it was worse a few days before we got there, when Las Vegas got hit with a monsoon that flooded the strip. In “normal” times, no water would have accumulated and stayed out in the desert for days.
I hope everyone has a safe and peaceful weekend. And pay attention to the flash flood alerts. They’re obviously real, even in the desert.
Sharing for Cee’s Midweek Madness — Pick a Topic from Her Photo (water, outdoors).
Peaceful at Dawn 
It is a disturbing trend all these dramatic changes . Our son lives in London England and they had torrential rain and flooding. I lived there for over decade and we never had that. Happy and Peaceful weekend to you too Dawn.
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See…crazy changes! Thanks for sharing. 😎
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Crazy flooding everywhere! Wish we could capture this water and send it to our crops and drought stricken towns! Your desert pictures are dramatic and emphasizes our need to not ignore climate change and continue to understand its power to work toward livable solutions.
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Unfortunately that flooding will continue as long as we have a drought or damage from fires. There’s been some bad flash floods and mudslides lately. And yes, I wish we could capture the water. I think California is working on some plans to do that, but as someone mentioned earlier, stagnant water on dry lakebeds in the desert might be laden with salt or minerals that would require more treatment.
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Las Vegas received a month’s worth of rain in two hours. The misconception about drought conditions is that there is a lack of rainfall. However, in 2013 — the driest year in the last ten years — Los Angeles received 3.6″ of rain. One inch of rainfall produces 3.8 billion gallons of runoff. Within hours, 12 billion gallons of rainwater simply flowed into the Pacific Ocean. That’s enough to supply 30-50% of the city’s water needs.
The problem is magnified across the state. In a wet year, California loses 18 trillion gallons of rainwater in just one month.
The solution — as with electricity — is to impose mandatory cutbacks.
The state needs reservoirs and power generation plants but the party in power has long been opposed to building this critical infrastructure. The same goes with refineries. The politicos tell the oil companies to produce more gasoline, but the same politicians have not permitted construction of a new refinery since the 1970’s.
San Diego had a flex alert the other day. We basically were told not to use any electricity between 4 PM to 9 PM. That is totally insane!
Yet, the state wants everyone to drive electric cars. The governor has banned the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. There aren’t enough charging stations to make it feasible not to mention that there isn’t enough electricity to even keep the lights on! (I challenge anyone to attempt a cross-country drive in an electric vehicle. Good luck when the battery dies and the nearest charging station is 500 miles away.)
The Wall Street Journal said that CO2 emissions from the mining of lithium and production of electric batteries is more harmful to the environment than oil and gas. Not to mention that disposal of the spent batteries is a toxic hazard.
There are commonsense solutions to our critical needs but — like energy and water — commonsense seems to be even more scarce.
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that water would probably be salty Dawn? Those dried lake beds have lots of minerals in it.
Death Valley had a flash flood recently that caused lots of damage. The Devil’s Race Track is most likely flooded as well. I hope no yahoos go out on the wet playa! The tire marks stay for years!
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You’re right. Not very potable. And that wasn’t too far from the Death Valley flash flood. I hope they didn’t drive out there either.
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Is that the I-15 near Primm? No lake in American Truck Simulator, so I know it’s not normally there😅 I do see a sandy area for run-off from the surrounding mountains on google maps. Fascinating pictures and certainly a concern for our future. We’re now have a ‘drought’ in the southern UK. We’ve had very little rain since January and although we had torrential rain middle of last week we’re back to dry days once more.
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Yes, that’s where it’s at. I’ve traveled that road for the last 30 years and have never seen water there. People will drive out on that sand for fun.
Never thought the UK would have a drought…it’s crazy!
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It is certainly crazy – we last had a drought in 1976 and it was nothing like this one 😒
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That is a long time. It’s only going to get more frequent now.
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I’m also in the UK, living in the south-east. This summer we have had extreme temperatures, forest fires and are living through a drought. Yet, there are some people who still deny global warming…
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That definitely sounds like California. I hate to say that it’s not going away, but with people denying the science behind it, I don’t see it changing.
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😢
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Great take on this week’s pick a topic. Thanks so much for playing along 😀
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Thank you! 😊
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Very very hot here..our world has climate change.
Anita
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Exactly! I’m glad you called it “climate change” because it’s also about the extreme weather. My son lives in the Midwest and they’re getting high temps but also crazy storms. Patterns are changing. Our summer is lasting longer and longer in the southwest. ☹️
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